Yesterday's Tale
by Chikiko
Summary: Ranma wakes up to find that he is somehow no longer in Nerima and with his companions must find his way home. Will become a crossover later
1. Default Chapter

  
Yesterday's Tale  
A future Ranma crossover  
by Chikiko (Chikiko@thekirealm.com)  
Webpage: (www.thekirealm.com)  
  
  


Disclaimer:

Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 

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Yesterday's Tale Prologue

Ranma felt his head throbbing painfully and heard an odd buzzing sound in his ears. Akane had probably pounded him for something stupid again. The question now was, what had he done this time? He tried to remember what he did, but he just kept drawing a blank. He figured whatever it was, she must be really mad. He decided just to avoid her for awhile, until she lost some of her steam and he could remember what it was that had gotten him knocked out in the first place.

Ranma was happy to note, that the painful throbbing was mostly gone, but unfortunately the buzzing just kept getting louder and more insistent. As he focused on it, it seemed to get even louder. Eventually he realized that it sounded like his father's voice. Strangely enough, he thought it sounded somewhat frightened. Although he couldn't quite understand what he was saying, he could tell he was pleading with someone. Though now that he tough about it, that didn't seem all that strange after all. He tried to hear what he was saying, but it was still pretty garbled. He tried to concentrate on it more, and it almost sounded like he was saying. "Ranma! Wake up boy! Come on boy, stop acting like a girl and wake up!"

Much to Genma's surprise, he did. Ranma, who at up somewhat unexpectedly, headbutted his father and knocked himself back down to the ground. Once the world stopped spinning, Ranma groaned. "Whatcha do something so dumb for pop? Now my heads hurts even more. Thanks to you and the dumb tomboy, I'm gonna have a major headache. What did I do this time to get pounded anyway?"

Genma seemed confused for a moment. "Don't look at me boy. I don't know how any of this happened. When I woke up, not only did the both of you have high fevers, but you looked like Tarou had just used you for a punching bag. We were lucky to have been near a lake."

It was then, that Ranma realized his voice was higher than it should be. Looking down, he confirmed the status of his current sex. Female. "Ah great pop, now I'm a girl. The least you coulda done was change me back!"

"Ungrateful boy!" Genma growled. "Stop complaining. If I wasn't such a great survivalist, you'd probably be dead right now!" Then in a more serious and subdued voice he said. "It was almost as bad as the summer before you turned twelve."

Ranma quickly sobered and nodded her head. If her father thought it was even somewhat as bad as that summer, then he probably wasn't exaggerating when he said she could have died. At least not by much.

They had been in the south near Okinawa, when Ranma suddenly began to feel really sick. Thinking back on the experience, he could only compare it with two weeks of eating nothing but large portions of Akane's cooking. Needless to say, most of that summer was spent fighting the sickness and recovering.

"You were lucky this time. Neither of your fevers was quite as high as your's was back then, which was good since her fever was higher than yours. The both of you mostly just tossed and turned, you've been like that for about a day already. It almost seems as if we'd been poisoned, but Akane hasn't made any food in over a month and I haven't seen that Kuno girl in about that long either."

Ranma didn't like the sound of that. It also just dawned on him, that they weren't at the Tendo's house. "Where are we pop, and who else are you taking care of?"

"I'm not sure. Where in the woods somewhere, but where I don't know. We were here when I woke up. As I said before its lucky for you and Nabiki that there's a lake nearby."

"Nabiki! Ah great that's just what we need! Being lost in the middle of who knows where with Nabiki, that's almost as being lost with Kodachi!" 

"I'm glad I have such a warm place in your heart Saotome." Came the weak reply from nabiki. 

As Genma went to check on her, Ranma grimaced deeply. she knew Nabiki was going to get back at her for that. She didn't know much about what was going on, but she knew without a doubt that she wasn't going to like it.

She couldn't think of anywhere in Nerima that sounded like her father described as where they were. She wondered where they were, and how they had gotten there. She still couldn't remember much before waking up. The last things she remembered was trying to ignore the snores of the panda next to her, while she was trying to go to sleep.

Feeling quite tired of just laying down, she slowly got into sitting position. She recognized the type of camp her father had set up, it was a necessity camp. She and her father had been forced to make similar camps often during their travels when they had to sell their equipment to buy food or other important supplies. However they got here, they obviously came only with what they had taken to bed with them. All three of them where wearing their sleeping cloths, which for her meant she was wearing her t-shirt and boxers. With a frown she looked around at their makeshift camp, which was really nothing more than a small camp fire not to far from where she was. Only one think struck her odd, she just could not figure out how her father had found a kettle and pot in the middle of the woods.

"So how are you feeling?" Genma asked Nabiki. 

"Like I've just been hit by a bus. What happened? Where are we?"

"You should be fine. It seems as if you and Ranma were somehow poisoned. I don't know why we're here, or even where here is."

Nabiki nodded her head. "Hmm, well hopefully there's a town nearby, so we can find out exactly where we are and find a way to get back home."

"Actually I'm pretty sure there is a town nearby. I accidentally scared off some hunters."

"Well that was smart, scare away the only poeple who might be able to help us." Nabiki said sarcastically.

"It's not my fault. I forgot I was in my panda form." 

"So why didn't you write some kind of sign like you always do?"

"I did!" Genma protested. "They just ran away screaming something about a yokai. But on the good side, they dropped a few things as they were leaving like that kettle."

"I was wondering where you got kettle from pop. Is it ready? I'd like to turn back to normal."

Nabiki just shook her head. "Like father like son." She muttered to herself to quiet for them to hear. She sighed, not quite believing she was actually lost in the middle of the woods with them. Why? Why did it have to be her? She was sure Akane would have jumped at the chance to lost in the woods somewhere with Ranma and his father.

"So what's to eat pop? I'm starved."

"Not too much, there isn't much game around here either, but you can have the little that's next to the fire. You two eat up. Now that you're both up, I'm going to go look around and explore the area."

After he had left, Ranma walked to the fire and looked uncertainly at the small bowl next to the pot. "Well I guess its better nothing. Pops ain't as bad as Akane, but some of the things he makes don't exactly make you want to ask for seconds. He used to force me to eat a buncha this gruel when I was kid. He said it helped raise one's endurance. It's not one of his better tasting meals. I wouldn't take too much if I were you."

Nabiki nodded her head and took a small serving as Ranma suggested. She stared at the primitively made bowl for a second before taking a small sip of the soupy stuff. Ranma was right, the stuff wasn't very good. But since there was nothing else and she was very hungry, she continued eating. As she did, she leaned back against a tree and started to try to figure out exactly how she got tangled up in this mess. The only thing she was able to remember before waking up in wonderland with the Saotome, was getting up in the middle of the night to take some pictures of Ranma.

With a start, Nabiki sat up, nearly spilling her food on herself, and frantically began looking around. The sudden movement caught Ranma's attention, and he shot up as well looking around for what ever startled Nabiki. She sighed when she couldn't find her camera anywhere. She had gotten it as a birthday gift to herself last year. She had saved up for quite some time go get that camera and its equipment. She concluded that however she had gotten where ever she was, her camera unfortunately hadn't followed. unfortunate because she was sure she could take some amazing pictures of Ranma. Knowing Genma she was sure he was going to try and turn this into some kind of training trip for him.

Noticing the way Ranma had gotten alert when she started to look for her camera, she said. "I was just looking for my camera. You were right about the food. It taste like the stuff daddy makes when he tries to cook."

"Well considering I've spent just about my whole life having to eat pops food, I pretty much know what to expect from his cooking. He does have a couple of good meals, but he doesn't usually make them unless we're in a somewhat big city. Of course he's so lazy he rarely ever makes them even when we he can get what he needs, he'd just rather buy food. So that's why I taught myself to cook. I may not be as good as Kasumi, but at least it a lot better than the pop's food."

Nabiki just nodded and kept eating. Ranma figured she wasn't in a talking mood, so he stopped trying to make conversation. "Shoulda known better than to try an talk with her." He mumbled after having walked far enough away for her not to hear him.

They spent the next several hours to themselves. Ranma tried to practice a little while Nabiki leaned against a tree to think. When Genma finally returned, neither of them liked the look on his face. He explained to them, that he had found a village several miles away to the east. He had asked for directions to Tokyo, but no one even know what Tokyo was, mush less where it was. It was a pretty old fashioned village as well, kind of like the kind of primitive village in china the amazons had come from. He also told them of the inn he had found where he had reserved a room for them, until they could figure out what was going on and how to get home.

It was already dark when they arrived at the village, so they headed straight for the room Genma had gotten in the inn. Ranma and Genma wasted no time and quickly fell asleep. Nabiki on the other hand was having a much harder time. After she been able to ignore the loud snores coming from the Genma's side of the room, she finally managed to get some sleep. Unfortunately her peaceful sleep was disturbed by the sound of Ranma and his father fighting. She just knew it was going to be a horrible day, when looked out the window and realized the sun was just starting to rise.

After uselessly wasting an hour trying to go back to sleep, she decided to so some investigating herself. The moment she stepped outside of the room, she knew something was horribly wrong. It seemed like she was on the stage of some kind of historical production.`Everyone she saw was dressed in the style typical in the feudal age. To top it all off, everyone was starring at her strangely. One woman even had the audacity to scowl at her and call her a harlot. She was about to respond, when she heard a man near her mention the name Nobunaga. Nabiki froze mouth open ready to make a retort. She pivoted and turned to look at the man with wide eyes. Suddenly everything started to make sense. She just knew this was going to be a bad day.

She quickly made it to her room and slid the door open, very hard. The two stopped fighting the moment the saw the fury on Nabiki's face. Neither of them had ever seen her so upset before. Even on her worst day, they didn't think Akane could reproduce the pure anger that was radiating off of Nabiki. Both of them took an involuntary stop backwards, as even Soun's infamous demons head attack was no where near as intimidating. Then, in a voice that was dripping with venom, she asked. "Would either of you like to know why no one here has ever heard of Tokyo?"

Both of them nodded their heads emphatically. "Good! I'll tell you why! IT'S BECAUSE TOKYO DOESN'T EXIST YET!!! Somehow or another you got us sent back in time to the feudal age!!"


	2. Yesterdays Tale Chap 1

Ranma was trying busy trying to save breakfast from being inhaled by her father when Nabiki burst angrily into the room. When he saw the look of pure fury on her face, Ranma forgot about the food and took a good step away from her. The look was far worse than any akane had ever given him, and she had held the record for it. He noticed that even his father backed away from her, leaving the food untouched. That was when Ranma knew he was dead. If someone could intimidate his father enough that he would forget about a table set with food for any amount of time, regardless of how small, it meant that whatever action was going to be taken against him it was really going to hurt a lot!"

  


Focusing her already murderous glare directly at him and yelled. "Would either of you like to know why no one here has ever heard of Tokyo?"

  


Ranma nodded his head, and absently noticed his father was doing the same. "Good! I'll tell you why! "IT'S BECAUSE TOKYO DOESN'T EXIST YET!!! Somehow or another you got us sent back in time to the feudal age!!" 

  


Ranma was now feeling confused as was well as scared. "What? How? Huh? How can you tell?"

  


"I said somehow you got us all sent back in time; how you did it, I have no idea. Look out that window. Kuno doesn't even dress like that! Do you remember all the stars we saw last night? When was the last time you can remember seeing that many stars since you came to live at the dojo? Haven't you noticed there's no electricity, no pavement, no phones, and no beds? For goodness sake's these people haven't even heard of Tokyo!"

  


Seeing they're expression didn't change, she scowled at them and left the room. She was upset and those two fools were only making her angrier. She had too many questions, and not enough answers! How did she get into the past? How on earth were they supposed to get back? Was it even possible to go back? 

  


The thought of having to live in the past for the rest of her life didn't agree well with her. Worse yet, how would she survive? Women where little more than commodities and baby machines to those people. There was NO WAY she was going to play the meek obedient house wife whose purpose in life was to please her husband and produce him heirs. Hell's seventh ice age would come and go before she ever followed "Three Obediences1." Worse yet, an unwed woman was considered even lower by society. 

  


As little as the idea of staying with the Saotome's appealed to her, the alternative was even worse. At least they knew better than that. "Well Ranma does, Genma on the other hand might try to switch the engagement from Akane to me if he thinks there's no way to get back." That thought caused a shiver to run down her back. There was just no way she'd ever marry that boy. Besides, it was obvious he liked Akane. Despite all his faults, and the things everyone said about him, Nabiki had to admit that Ranma was one of the most honorable and loyal person she had ever met. No small feat considering Genma, who was the exact opposite, was the sole person to raise him. How he turned out as good as he did with Genma as his only parent was one of the great questions of the universe.

  


Still, the main question plaguing her mind was. "How do we get back home?" It could perhaps be easier to answer the question if she knew how they had gotten there in the first place. But the answer to that seemed even more elusive than the answer of how to get back home. Perhaps someone of this age might know enough of magic, or perhaps even time travel, to help them find a way to return home.

  


That last thought made her stop. She couldn't believe what she had just thought. One year ago, she used to believe that magic was only for the gullible, and that time travel for those into science fiction. But just seconds ago she had thought about them as if it were a common place fact. Of course that was in no small part thanks to Ranma. It's hard to not believe in magic when your two house guests turn into a girl and a panda when splashed with cold water.

  


Since meeting Ranma and his "friends" she had learned to keep an open mind to things she used to think were impossible. For all she knew she might meet an alien, travel to an alternate dimension, and watch Ranma fighting a demon. With that boy around, anything was possible, including a way home. Resigning herself to the inevitable truth of her current dilemma, like it or not she was stuck with Ranma and Genma.

  


When she returned to the inn, she found Ranma still in there looking somewhat down. When he noticed her, he hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry about this. I didn't mean to get you involved in any of this. Shoot, I don't even want to be involved in whatever it is that's going on. I don't know how, but somehow or another I'll find a way to get us home. I mean if we got here, there's got to be a way to get us back right?" 

  


"I'm not really sure, but let's hope so. Anyway, where did the panda go?"

  


"Pops said he was gonna get some food and supplies for the road. Did you come up with a plan?" Though Ranma thought it he was just chickening away from facing Nabiki in passioned rage mode.

  


Nabiki sighed. "Not yet, but perhaps someone around here might know enough about magic to help get us back to our time."

  


"To bad the old ghoul isn't here, I bet she'd know someway to get us back."

  


Nabiki's eyes widened. "Ranma that's a great idea! If we find the amazons they maybe able to find a way to get us back home."

  


"Ya, but how do we even know if the old ghoul is even here. Besides even if we did find her, she'd probably only do it if I promised to marry Shampoo."

  


Nabiki slapped her head in frustration. "I wasn't talking about Cologne or Shampoo. I mean the amazon tribe in china. They're probably around. You know how cologne is always bragging about their three thousand year-old customs and traditions. I'm not exactly sure how far back in time we are, but if the amazons are around, then they're our best help getting out of here."

  


"But how are we going to get them to help us? I mean sure the old ghoul has helped us out before, but only because she wants me to marry Shampoo. There's no way a bunch of amazons we don't even know are going to help. And I wont fight any of them either. The last thing I need is another old ghoul and shampoo chasing me around the past."

  


"I wasn't even thinking about that. My plan was we go there, tell them we're from the future. Then you tell them you're engaged to shampoo, and show them some of their secret techniques as proof. Then once they believe us, we can have them send us back home."

  


Ranma gave her an apprehensive look. "I guess that'll work. Just as long as I don't get yet another fiancee."

  


"Don't worry about it, as long as you don't beat any of them in a fight you'll be perfectly ok. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going for another walk to try and clear my head."

  


It wasn't until several hours later that Nabiki came back. A fight quickly broke out between them about the plan. Genma reluctantly agreed to it in the end, after having to go through both Ranma's and Nabiki's methods of convincing. 

  


Having settled the matter, they began eating. Nabiki was surprised at seeing how much food the Saotome's were eating. She had certainly grown used to their eating habits in the time they lived at her house, but they had been eating even more that what was considered normal for them.

  


As she thought about it further, she realized that they were about to head off on a journey to the east in hopes of reaching china. Without the use of any modern technology, the trip would be a very long one; she was also sure that Genma would end up making it even longer by insisting on training Ranma along the way. She decided she would have an extra long breakfast in the morning before they left, since there really wasn't much left of all the food Genma had bought for the night. She just hoped Genma didn't suddenly decide to leave early; she really didn't want to travel half asleep. Saying goodnight to the Saotome's, she went to her futon and once again tried not to get some sleep.

  


******

  


About an hour before sunrise, Genma shook Ranma to wake him up. "Boy, get up. It's time to go!" Not getting any response from his son, he threw a bucket of ice cold water at him.

  


Genma wasn't sure if it was the water or the bucket that woke him up, but needless to say Ranma was now wide awake and very upset. "Oh great pop! Whatcha do that for?" She yelled as loud as she could without worrying about waking up Nabiki. 

  


"Hurry up. It's time to go. We have to get out of here before the innkeeper wakes up. I told him we would be leaving today, so he's bound to come looking for his money."

  


Ranma groaned. "I should have known you'd do something like this."

  


"Ranma you wound your father's heart. How can you say something so awful about your father? Besides it's not my fault! I had wanted to stay in the village longer, perhaps a month or two, like we used to. But you and the girl wanted to rush off to china. You know how bad that girl is when she wants something done. She's just like your mother! Once her mind is made up that is the way it has to be, or there'll be hell to pay. Now if YOU want to wake her up and convince her to stay until I can earn enough money to pay for the inn and the food for the trip, then be my guest." 

  


Ranma gulped as she looked at the girl's sleeping form. Other than the thought of being stuck as a girl and certain small four legged animals, there was no one she feared more than Nabiki. If she was in a good mood, Nabiki would pester her for the fun of it. But if she was in a bad mood, breathing the wrong way around her could cause Nabiki to make her life hell. Worst of all she gets very mad really quickly when things don't go her way. 

  


Although Nabiki nearly always confused her, Ranma knew being woken up early in the morning to discuss a possible change in her plan, was not something Nabiki would take too kindly. In fact just being woken up early, was enough grounds for her to torment you. Ranma sighed and cursed her father. She didn't know how or even why, but she knew that all ths was her father's fault. Even if his part was minor, which it rarely was, Genma was always involved in every bad thing that happened to him. 

  


"Well?" He said impatiently. "Wake her up. We have to hurry."

  


"Me? Why should I have to do it?" He asked angrily. 

  


"Because you were the one, who agreed with her to leave in the morning."

  


Ranma sighed and went to wake up Nabiki. After a minute of gently shaking her and calling her name, she finally opened one eye to see who was disturbing her sleep and slurred. "Leabe me alome Saotome, I'm seeping."

  


"Come on Nabiki, it's checkout time. If we don't go now, we'll have to stay here for at least a few more weeks."

  


After much effort and work, she finally sat up. With blurry eyes looked out the windows and promptly slumped forward onto Ranma. Genma seeing this began laughing. "It looks like you get to carry her! Now hurry up! We've wasted too much time already. We're going to be traveling all day and hopefully make some distance from here, incase they come looking for us."

  


Ranma growled as she picked up Nabiki and her stuff. So far she was NOT enjoying this little trip through time. With her rotten luck she'd likely get her cursed locked or have some kinda cat follow her around! With another sigh, she took off after her father. As they made their escape, Ranma glared at her father. Not only had he not given her enough time to heat some water, but she also had to carry just about everything they and including the sleeping form of Nabiki and her stuff! 

  


They had spent all the money the hunters had left behind when Genma scared them away in his panda form on food, clothes, and equipment, but it hadn't been enough for the three of them. Ranma and Nabiki ended selling the cloths they had come with to the villagers, who were very taken by it and were willing to pay a good deal of money for it. The money from the cloths was then used to buy more food and water, and saved the rest for buying more supplies on the road. 

  


They traveled at a somewhat brisk pace for a few hours until Nabiki finally woke up. They decided to take a small break, for which Ranma was all too happy to take, since that meant putting Nabiki down. After just a few minutes of resting, they began walking again, albeit at a slower pace since Nabiki wouldn't be able to keep up at the pace they had been going. 

  


By the time noon came, they were forced to stop again. Nabiki who was not used to a life on the road was worn out. Genma of course was not very outwardly happy about it. He knew traveling with a girl was nothing but headache. Whispering to Ranma he said. "We need to keep going. If she getting this tired and hungry now, how on earth does she expect to get to western china?"

  


"Look I said I'm tired and hungry right now. There's no way I'll be able to go any further without fainting!" She said angrily, having heard Genma's whisper.

  


"You were the one who insisted on leaving today, so we can get back home as quickly as soon as possible." He said angrily back to her. "How do you expect to ever get there if we have to stop every few hours because you're too tired?" 

  


Ranma threw her bag at him to keep him from continuing. "Ah shut up pop! It's not like it's her fault, she's just a girl! Besides she ain't used to traveling like us. Let's just take a small break while she eats." Without waiting for a response Ranma rushed her father and started a Saotome style sparring match. 

  


Nabiki was grateful to Ranma for sticking up for her, even if the idiot had insulted her. But she quietly ate her late brunch as she watched them spar. —Most people would sit and rest during a break, but not those two. Only they would begin sparing after hours of intense traveling. — The sparring match ended just a little bit after she had finished eating, with Genma flying into a tree and sliding down headfirst.

  


Not bothering to give her father a second glance, Ranma walked by Nabiki, filled the small kettle with water, and put it on the fire. "Stupid old man." She muttered to herself as she sat across from Nabiki. After the kettle had reached the desired heat, she reached grabbed the kettle and poured it on herself to restore her proper sex. "Ahh that feels so much better. So you ready to walk for another three hours or so until we're ready to stop?"

  


Nabiki gave him an incredulous look. "No! Not really. I need time to rest, so I can keep walking. You may not believe this, but normal people can't hike across the country like you and not get tired. Especially not in these shoes!" Ranma moved next to her and crouched down. "Huh? What are you doing Ranma?"

  


"Get on." Said Ranma. "Unless you wanna stay here and listen to pop complain all day. This way we can keep going, and you can rest until you feel like you can walk again. Not to mention it'll shut pop up for a while."

  


Nabiki looked at Ranma, and then to the elder Saotome, who was now stretching and already complaining about his ungrateful son. As much as she didn't like the idea of getting a piggy back ride from Ranma, she decided it was better than listening to anymore of Genma's complaints. In one day, she already had enough to last her a lifetime. — Besides the faster we get to china, the quicker we can get home. — "Ok Ranma, I give. Let's just get this over with."

  


"Sheesh, it's not that big a deal. Your acting like your gonna get sealed with a Jusenkyou curse just cuz you touched me."

  


Climbing on his back she said. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that anything is possible if you're around. "

  


Ranma wasn't quite sure if he should take that as a compliment or an insult. Once again Nabiki proved to be a total mystery to him. Not wanting to dwell on it anymore, he picked up his packs and turned to his father. "Come on, pops! Let's go, or are you getting too old?" With a derisive sniff, Genma picked up his pack and began following his son.

  


* * *

Notes: 

  


1. The three obediances is a buddhist teaching that became popular in japan after the 15th century. 

  


"After the 15th century, the teachings of the 'Three Obediences' reigned. "A woman has no way of independence through life. When she is young, she obeys her father; when she is married, she obeys her husband; when she is widowed, she obeys her son." ()

  


Yes this is going to be an Inuyasha crossover, but not quite yet. Give me a few chapters to get things going. Sorry about the delay, I had major writers block recently. I was intending to come out with chaos quest 12 before this, I thought I'd let those of you who still check my site every so often to see if everything is new.


	3. Yesterdays Tale Chap 2

  
Yesterday's Tale  
A future Ranma Crossover  
by Chikiko (Chikiko@thekirealm.com)  
Webpage: (www.thekirealm.com)  
  
  


Disclaimer:

Ranma ½ and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 

* * *

  
Yesterday's Tale Chapter 2 

Nabiki sighed as she yet again awoke in Ranma's arms as they traveled through another forest. Since leaving the village they had stayed at after discovering they were hundreds of years in the past several weeks ago, waking up in his arms was becoming customary. She was getting quite sick of it. Every day was the same thing, she would wake up and eat, then they would walk some more before stopping to eat again, and finally Ranma would carry her for a while so they could travel a bit faster before finally stopping to make camp and sleep. 

Before being thrown back hundreds of years in time, she had really liked traveling. Now, on the other hand, she hated it with every being of her soul. It wasn't even the fact that they had to pretty much walk all day or that it was gratingly monotonous. Genma's constant complAin'ts about how she was slowing them down, and having to travel all day on a virtually empty stomach, had made her lose any pleasure she might have once had about traveling.

Three weeks ago, they had run out of food. So for the most part they had been surviving on roots, bark, grass and the like. They had been lucky a week ago when they found and caught a rabbit, however besides that they hadn't been able to catch anything else.

Her musings were stopped when Ranma noticed she was awake and put her down. Ranma gave her a container with her portion of the stuff they had made for breakfast. "Here's your food, I'm gonna go practice a bit with pops. Just call when you're ready to go."

Turning to Genma, he said. "Come on pops, let's practice." Genma spared a glance at Nabiki who was unhappily eating the soupy concoction he had made earlier, before following his son to practice.

As they practiced, Genma was displeased to note that Ranma was distracted and sloppy. Seeing an opening in Ranma's defense, Genma quickly took advantage of it and sent Ranma painfully into a tree. With a glower Genma yelled at Ranma. "Boy, what's wrong with you? You're getting sloppy! I haven't seen you this sloppy in years!"

With a frustrated sigh, Ranma got up and yelled back. "Everything! What are we doing? We're just walking around starving ourselves for nothing!"

"Has living at the Tendo's made you that soft?! This isn't the first time we've gone without food while traveling. What's gotten into you?"

"That's not what I meant. It may not be our first time, but I know for a fact Nabiki hasn't! Even we haven't gone this long without being able to find food before, and if its kinda tough for us just think about her. I mean just look at her, any day now she's probably gonna fall over dead! She's sleeping longer, walking slower, and she has to quit walking earlier every day. Why is she even here? She ain't meant for any of this. I could understand Shampoo, Ukyou, or even the Akane, but why Nabiki? She ain't even a martial artist."

Genma sighed deeply. "Who knows Ranma? None of us asked for any of this, but regardless it is the path we must now bear. It's pointless to ask why. We have no choice but to keep going."

"I guess. We should probably hurry and start looking for lunch, Nabiki's probably almost done eating." He said before heading out to look for something edible to eat.

A few minutes later, he heard his father calling him and Nabiki. Running to where his father was, he asked. "What's up pops?"

"Look, down there on the horizon, just north of here, there's a village there."

"WHAT? A village?" Nabiki's excited voice asked. "How long until we get there?"

"We'd probably make it there sometime this afternoon, if we skip lunch and keep going all day."

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Nabiki asked sounding more like she used to.

"Gee! Someone sure got happy quick. Now let's just hope she'll stop being so grumpy."

Nabiki made a dismissing gesture. "Whatever Saotome. Let's just get going before I really start getting grumpy and believe me you really won't like that. Ranma shook his head and started heading off toward the village.

It took them the rest of the day, but they finally arrived just before sunset. "I thought you said we'd be here sometime this afternoon? It's almost evening?" Nabiki complained. 

"Hey we're here, aren't we? Let's just see if we can find some food and a place to stay."

As they walked through town, people soon noticed the strangers and called the village elder. The village elder quickly found them and said. "Good evening strangers. I am the village elder here. My name is Anisho. Welcome to our village. It isn't often that we receive visitors here. How is it that you've come to such a remote village?"

"We are traveling martial artists. I am Genma Saotome and this is my son Ranma and -- uh his wife Nabiki." Both teenagers turned wide eyed toward Genma. Genma quickly spoke up again before either could say anything. "We have been traveling for many weeks now. We were wondering if it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience to you if you could spare us some food and a bed to sleep in for a few days. We'd hate to impose, but you see the girl is pregnant and we still a large journey ahead of us."

Ranma was suddenly frozen in place with a wide-eyed look of fear, while Nabiki was visibly shaking in barely controlled rage. Seeing how tired she looked, the elder misinterpreted her shaking and felt sorry for her. He could only imagine the hardship she must have been going through to have to travel so long in her condition, so he readily agreed and led them to his house. When they arrived, he led them to the dining room. "Please have a seat. I'll have the servants prepare you some food. I have a few things I must attend to right now, but if you need anything just call for Kyoko. She is my head servant and can give you any assistance you may need."

Nabiki waited until Kyoko entered the kitchen to check on the food before turning to yell at Genma with a voice dripping venom and retribution. "What was that you said about me being pregnant and Ranma's wife?"

Genma raised his hands in a placating manner as he slowly moved away from her. "Now calm down Nabiki. I only said that to make them feel sorry enough for us to give us food and a place to sleep."

Not losing any of her anger she advanced on him and said. "Couldn't you have come up with anything better? I am warning you right now, don't even think of trying to switch the engagement over to me. I am NOT Akane, and I won't go through with it. We are going to china and we're going back to the twentieth century where we belong! You hear me?"

Before Genma could say anything, there was a knock on the door, and Kyoko hesitantly entered the room. "Dinner is ready to be served." She gave them a few seconds before signaling the other servants to bring the food in.

Nabiki smirked when she realized she had been given a bigger portion than either Ranma or Genma, then without preamble, she ravenously began eating. Ranma and Genma of course needed no urging and began eating with their usual gusto. Kyoko and the other servant in the room stared in open disbelief at the amount and speed at which they were eating. After the second plate of food was gone and now sign that they would be ending several servants ran from the room to the kitchen to prepare more food. 

Noticing that Nabiki was keeping up with him in the amount of food she was eating, Ranma said. "So Nabiki, what is it you're always saying about the way me and pops eat?"

"Shut up, Saotome. I'm hungry, tired, and pregnant in case you don't remember. If I want to eat like a barbarian, then that is my own damn prerogative thank you very much!"

Hearing laughter, they all turned to see that the elder had returned. "The two of you must be newlyweds. Ah, to be so young and in love. Best of all, the girl is full of spirit! She reminds me of my dearly beloved Aiko. You're a fortunate man Saotome, may you be blessed with many more children."

Unaware that he was being talked to, Ranma continued eating until Nabiki pinched him under the table. "Ouch! Watcha do that for?"

She replied with a sugary sweet voice. "I think the elder was talking to you -- darling."

Ranma blinked in confusion. "He was? But I'm not -- ouch! Oh ya. Uh thanks um I guess."

The elder laughed at the exchanges between them. "Well I'm glad you're enjoying the food. The servants are making more food incase any of you want to eat more. I'm going to be turning in for the night. Kyoko will show you to your rooms when your done eating. Ah here is your food now, please eat as much as you'd like."

Waiting until they were alone again, Nabiki shook her head at Ranma. "I swear Saotome. You can be so dense at times!"

Ranma threw his hands up in an exasperated manner. "Well how the heck was I supposed to know he was talking to me?"

"Gee, let me think now. Is there anyone else here who is supposed to have a wife that's pregnant? Whatever, I'm going to bed. I'll see you two in the morning. Goodnight."

Ranma sharply eyed his father. "This is all your fault pops. Why'd you go and have to say something so stupid anyways? I mean who'd ever believe me and Nabiki were married? Sheesh!"

"Oh, Why must my only son be such an ungrateful brat! Have I not sacrificed my entire life to train him to be the world's greatest martial artist, and this is the thanks I get? Do you have no thanks for all the things I sacrificed for your sake?"

"Like what pops? Getting me cursed to become a girl whenever I'm around cold water, or how about all those stupid engagements, you made with who knows how many girls? Shoot, I wouldn't even be slightly surprised if us being sent back in time is somehow your fault!"

Ranma paused his tirade, when a sudden thought hit him. "Hey wait a minute! You were the first one up weren't you! Why were you ok, but me and Nabiki were out cold for days? You do have something to do with this don't you?"

Genma gave his son and indignant glare. "Of course not! I don't know anymore about us being here than you do! How in the hell could I be responsible for any of this? I told you when I woke up I found the two with high fevers, so I dumped the both of you in the lake for a while to try and break your fevers. I can't believe how ungrateful you're acting, if it wasn't for me the both of you would be dead right now. It was hard enough trying to take care of you as a panda, the least you could do is so some appreciation and say thank you for saving your life. Not accusing me of having started this whole damn mess."

"Ok! I'm sorry! You don't have to get so upset about it!" Standing up he began to gather the dishes and looking at all the plates Nabiki had he said. "Goodness! Did you see how much Nabiki was eating?!"

"Of course I did, I wouldn't be surprised if she even ate more than you. All this traveling has been really hard on her. It'll probably be in her best interest if we stay here a little while before heading off again."

"Really pop, what would've ever given you that idea? She's been walking halfway across the country while starving herself. Who woulda thought it might be hard on her."

"Oh shut up. Just because I don't say anything doesn't mean I'm not worried about her. You don't think I haven't thought about what happens when we reach Kysh and we have to start swimming? When we went to China we had to swim from Kysh to Iki to Tsushima to Korea and finally to China. Unless we start seriously training her from here to there, I don't see how she'll make it."

Ranma laughed. "Nabiki? Martial arts? Ya, that'll be the day! She Ain't gonna go for that. Not only ain't it her style, but it'll mean majorly slowing down the pace which you know she's definitely not gonna go for. So what are we gonna have to do then, take a boat?"

"Boy think before you speak! We couldn't afford passage for the two of us in our time, how on earth do you expect to get enough money to buy passage for the three of us in THIS time period?"

Ranma looked down at the plates in his hands and frowned. "I guess you're right. So what are we gonna do then?"

Genma sighed. "There's not much we can do. We have got to make her understand she needs to start training if she's wants to make it back home. There's no way we can avoid the swim to Korea, that's inevitable and if she wants to go home, she's gonna have to be able to make that swim. Once there we'll have to walk around the Yellow Sea if she doesn't think she can make the swim across it. Honestly Ranma, it's likely gonna be at least five years before we can make it home. You have to make her understand it's either training or staying here in the past."

Ranma nodded silently at his father as he thought about what he said. Without the use of cars to reach Tibet, where Jusenkyou and the amazon village were, it was going to be a very long trip. It would dwarf even his first trip there, since they had hitchhiked part of the way. As rare a moment as it was, his father was actually right. But how do you convince Nabiki that she's gonna have to start training in the martial arts? Deciding it was too much to think about for the moment, he decided to postpone it until tomorrow. Looking down at his hands, he realized he was still holding the plates. "Um hey pop? What do I do with these plates?"

"Just leave them there. The servants will pick them up. Let's head to bed. Tomorrow we're getting up early to train. It's been far too long since either of us have had the chance to get any real training in since this whole mess started. I'll go find Kyoko and have her show us where our rooms are."

Ranma put the plates down and waited for his father to return with Kyoko. When he returned, Kyoko led them to a room just down the hallway. "This will be your room Saotome-san." She said to Genma, then turned to Ranma and said. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your room young sir."

Ranma shrugged and smiled as he followed Kyoko. "Hey cool! We each get our own rooms. I'll finally get to sleep in peace, without pop's snoring keeping me up all night." Kyoko led him to a room just a bit further down the hall. Thanking her, he slid the door open a little and entered the room. The room was dark, but he managed to see where the futon was when he entered. He decided he was too tired to do any practicing before going to sleep, so he quickly undressed and laid down to sleep.

Three seconds later, he jumped out of bed when he felt another body next to him. Nabiki's sleepily annoyed asked. "Is that you Saotome? What are you doing in my room?"

"Nabiki! Ack! I -- uh sorry, Kyoko told me this was my room. She must've mest up and gave me the wrong room on accident. Just give me a second to find her, so she can show me which is my room."

Nabiki pulled her hair in frustration as she realized what happened. "Don't even bother Saotome."

Ranma sputtered in confusion. "W-what? B-b-but -- "

"They'll just bring you back here, anyway. We're married remember? So they just naturally stuck us in the same room together."

"Oh! So uh what should I do now? I guess I can go back and sleep in pop's room."

"Don't you think that might look a bit suspicious? We're newlyweds remember, we're supposed to be going at it like bunnies; Hence the reason for my condition. Just go sleep on the other side of the room. Besides it would be inhuman of me to force you to have to endure that panda's snoring. I don't know how his snores never kept me up before coming to the feudal age. It's loud and annoying enough to keep the whole neighborhood up. Anyway here, catch your pillow."

Ranma reached over and grabbed the pillow that didn't quite make it to him. "Uh thanks."

"No problem, I'll just put it on your tab when we get home."

Ranma shook his head and thought how something never change. Ranma considered talking to her about what he had spoken with his father about, but decided it could wait until tomorrow. After all although Nabiki snored a little, it was nothing compared to his fathers. He tried falling asleep, but the knowledge of what he was going to have to talk to Nabiki about the following day wouldn't allow him to sleep. After a long time of unsuccessfully trying to go to sleep, he thought he heard Nabiki turn over restlessly. Quietly, in case she really was asleep, he asked. "You still awake?"

"Unfortunately! Considering the amount of food I ate, the fact I actually have a semi comfortable bed to sleep on and blissful absence of your father's snoring, I should be sleeping like a baby right now."

Ranma snickered. "You're just getting used to toughing it out. It took me about a week when we moved to your house, to get used to it. Your house is probably the most comfortable place I've ever stayed at." He paused a moment and sullenly continued. "I'm sorry about you getting stuck in all this."

"That's why we're hunting down the amazons. We should be able to use that mirror of theirs to send us back to our time."

"Ya, but how are we gonna get there? When me and pops went there, we had to swim to Korea and then to china. Not to mention Jusenkyou and the amazons are way deep into China. I know the last few weeks have been pretty hard on you, just the swim there is gonna be murder on you."

Angrily Nabiki asked. "So are you suggesting we give up and stay stuck five hundred years in the past?"

Hearing the anger in her voice, he decided to stick to his original idea and wait till she's in a better mood to bring it up. "No! I mean -- I don't know. I'm just worried about you! I mean you're not a tomboy like your sister, so it ain't fair to you to have to deal with it."

Nabiki arched her eyebrows. "So it doesn't bother you that we're hundreds of years in the past?"

"I don't know. I guess not. It's that I exactly like it here, but I guess if you weren't here being stuck here forever wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

"You know Ranma, sometimes, I just don't understand you."

"Well it ain't that hard to figure out. It kinda makes sense if you remember that this is how I've spent most of my life. So it ain't exactly a big deal. Besides you know how pop's is. Even after we moved to your house, we were still going on training trips ever few weeks and stuff."

Nabiki was quiet for several minutes. "You know Ranma-kun, I can't even imagine what growing up must have been like for you."

Ranma sighed and spoke in a forlorn tone. "It was very lonely. Sure I had pops, but that was it. I never really had any friends. Whenever we'd goto a town, I'd always see all the other kids playing and having fun, but pop's would never let me go with them. He always said I don't need friends, that friends are a distraction from the art, and that I should go practice. The few times I was able to sneak away from pop's, none of the kids ever wanted to play with me. They'd always call me names like weirdo or freak, and run away."

"You know, maybe pop was right. I mean look at what happened to the only two friends I ever had. Ukyou my best friend, had her life stolen from her cuz of me. She spent ten years of her life trying to hunt me down for vengeance and Ryouga's obsessed with killing me. Oh and let's not forget Akane. She was my friend for all of ten minutes. Then again, it was pretty fun at times too. I mean, I could do just about what ever I wanted, go to sleep whenever, and best of all I didn't have to goto school everyday!"

Nabiki laughed."Well that last part explains a lot about you Saotome."

"Oh never mind! I don't know what I was thinking tell you any of that anyway."

"It was a joke Ranma-kun, relax. Besides, I can understand what some of that must have been like. I'm not exactly miss popularity myself."

"See that's the one thing I really don't understand about you. You're like the smartest person I've ever known, you ain't bad looking, and you can be really nice when you wanna be. If you'd only wanna be more often, you could have plenty of friends and stuff."

"It's too late for that Ranma. For better or worse I'll always be the 'ice queen.' Nothing is going to change that."

"Why? You don't have to be. I know you mostly do it to help your family and stuff, but there's got be other ways of doing it that doesn't make people not like you."

Nabiki was silent for a moment. "It's no use Ranma. It's too late. Even if I were to suddenly become as nice as Kasumi. My reputation wouldn't go away, everyone would think it's just some scheme to make money off them. My family needs the money and nothing I do is gonna change that, so why even bother trying? Besides, who would even want to be my friend?"

"I would and I don't see why anyone else wouldn't." Ranma immediately responded.

That shocked Nabiki a bit. She had been expecting him to say Kuno or even one of her associates, but she hadn't expected him to suggest himself. She had been as much of a thorn in his side as Kuno, Mousse, Ryouga, or anyone one else who had bothered him. "YOU? YOU would want to be MY friend?"

"Ya! Why not? If you really meant it, then of course I'd wanna be your friend."

"Why? I've used you twice as much as anyone else? Why? How could you trust me after everything I've done to you?"

"Ok look at it this way. If you're not really serious about it, then nothing's really changed. I might be able to avoid one of your schemes now, but sooner or later you'll end up getting me anyways. Probably worse than you would have otherwise. But if you're really being serious about it and you really do want to be my friend, I may only really have one chance. If I say no to you now, I may probably lose the best friend I'll ever have."

"I know you're your trying to help your family out, and I only make it harder for you. With the mess my fiance's and rivals make, I'm sure half of what you make probably goes straight to repairing all the damage we cause or paying for all the hot water me and pop use. That's why I don't usually make that big of a deal about it when you do use me in one of your scheme's, cuz it helps pay for the mess that I cause."

Nabiki sat in stunned silence. The implications of what he had just told her, struck her in numerous ways. Combined with what he had mentioned before she saw an intense yearning for friendship, someone who he could connect with, so badly that he was willing to overlook past wrongs. She thought back to the day Ryouga first came to Nerima, and how he repeatedly tried to make restitutions with Ryouga so they could be friends again. Although most people seemed to have missed it, Ryouga's rejection of his offer of friendship hurt him. 

Now here he was doing the same thing again, by indirectly asking her to be friends with him. It just amazed her. No matter how well she thought she knew Ranma, he always found some new way to surprise her. With a slight laugh in her tone, she said. "Ok Ranma. Friends it is. Now let me try and get some sleep while I can. Knowing Genma this might be my only chance to sleep in comfort for a long time."

Ranma yawned. "Ok. I'm getting tired too. Don't worry. It usually takes pop's three or four days to get kicked out of somewhere. So we should have at least two more *yawn* nights before we gotta run. Anyway pop wants to get some do some real training tomorrow, which means we'll probably be sparring till afternoon sometime. So goodnight Nabiki."

"Goodnight Ranma."

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	4. Yesterdays Tale Chap 3

Nabiki woke to find herself on a comfortable bed. With a sigh of contentment, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of a comfortable pillow under her head. She was starting to contemplate going back to sleep, when she heard her door slowly slide open a bit. "Are you awake mistress?" Asked a voice quietly.

Nabiki sighed and answered irritably. "Yes, I'm awake. What is it?"

"I just came to inform you that your breakfast is ready. I'm sorry for the intrusion, but the young master said you would be awake about this time. He also mentioned something about you wanting to eat, before a panda comes and steals all of the food."

Nabiki thought for moment before asking. "Where are my husband and father-in-law now?"

"I'm not sure. They left several hours ago. When you're finished getting ready, I'll sow you to the dinning room."

Nabiki shook her head. "Getting ready can wait. Right now I'm starved."

"But mistress!" The girl exclaimed. "Some of the men may see you! Going out there in your sleeping attire wouldn't be proper."

"Right now I'm tired from traveling, hungry, and let's not forget pregnant; I could really care less if anyone sees me looking this rough. Not that it really matters, since these are the only cloths I have anyway."

The girl looked as if was about to say something, but then changed her mind. "As you wish mistress, but I'll see what I can do about getting you something else to wear."

Nabiki nodded to the girl and followed her into the dinning room. Her eyes got wide as she stared at all the food. It took virtually all of her self-control to sit first, before she began eating. As it was, she ate as if it were the last meal she would ever eat. Then again, knowing Genma's ability to cause trouble, it very well might be the last meal she'd have for a long time.

Nabiki mentally took back everything she had ever said about Ranma and his eating habits. She seriously doubted she'd ever eat normally again. After quickly eating her fill, she stood up to take the plates to the kitchen. A servant quickly stopped her however, and said. "Oh no mistress, let me handle that. Why don't you go with Akemi and take a nice warm bath? It'll make you feel much better. We've already had it heated up for you."

The mention of a warm bath caught Nabiki's attention. She couldn't even remember when the last time she had last had a warm bath. Ever since she woke to find herself in the past, she had to make due with cold baths in a river or a lake. In fact, it had probably been a week, since her last bath. Needless to say, she was more then happy to follow the servant's idea.

Akemi, the servant girl who had woken her, led her to the bath house behind the house. "Here you are mistress. Your bath is ready. I'll stay here to tell the servants when to make it hotter."

"Could you turn around so I can change?"

After hearing the splash that indicated Nabiki had entered the water, she turned around to face her. After a few minutes of silence, Akemi sighed wistfully. "You're very lucky mistress."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh and why is that?"

"Well, not only do you have such a handsome husband, but it's obvious that he cares for you as well! Most husbands would have insisted that their wives wait to eat with them, and some would even make them wait until after they had eaten. Tell me, how did the two of you meet?"

"Well let's see. I met him a year ago when, my father suddenly announced to my sisters and me that one of us would marry Ranma. Surprisingly, Ranma and his father, showed up shortly there after."

"Was it love at first sight?" The girl asked eagerly.

Nabiki looked at her, noting for the first time that she somewhat resembled Akane's friend Sayuri. "Why are you so eager to know?"

The girl looked down and apologized. "I'm sorry mistress. I was out place. I shouldn't have been prying."

Nabiki frowned slightly at the girl's reaction. "There's no need to apologize, I was just wondering why you were so curious about it."

"Mistress, I'm a slave and my master doesn't own many man slaves. So it is likely I'll never marry, much less a husband who actually loves and respects me. But listening to you speak of your happiness, I can imagine what it must be like to be held in the arms of a strong handsome man who loves me like your husband obviously loves you. This must sound strange to you, forget I even asked."

Nabiki thought about what the girl said for a moment and realized that she probably wasn't exaggerating, which made her feel really sorry for the poor girl. Now that she thought about it, the older woman in the dinning room resembled Akemi. It was likely that the woman was Akemi's mother, which would suggest Akemi was born a slave. The elder didn't seem like he was a mean man, but even in a palace, a slave is still a slave.

Remembering Ranma's suggestion from the night before about being more friendly, Nabiki decided to give the girl what she wanted. With a sigh she began to weave an exaggerated story that would have made Kuno proud. "No, it wasn't. In fact I wasn't even chosen to be his fiancée; our parents actually choose my little sister. The story would have ended there with a somewhat happily ever after, if not for his idiot of a father."

"Why? What did he do?"

"Well, the fool somehow managed to get Ranma engaged to at least five different women!"

Akemi's eyes grew large with surprise. "Five women!?"

"At least five! There may be more out there we don't know about; luckily we were able to work things out with two of them."

"So there were three other women trying to get him too? However were you able to end up with him . . . or has he taken the others on as concubines?"

Nabiki laughed. "As if I would marry him if he had three other women on the side! Although, I'm quite sure some of them would be more than thrilled at the idea of Ranma at least having them on the side. Besides the three other fiances, there were other girls who were after him as well. In fact, one of them was actually a nobleman daughter."

Akemi gasped in complete surprise. "A noble woman?!"

"Yes, but that's nothing, compared to one of the fiancees. One of his fiances was an attractive blue-haired princess from a foreign land." Nabiki struggled hard not to laugh out loud at the expression on Akemi's face.

Seeing Akemi was still speechless, Nabiki continued her story. "Now where was I again? Oh yes, the four girls. Well each of them were well trained in martial arts, and the four of them would often fight to see who would be the one to marry him."

"But what of the foreign princess?"

"Ah yes, she left her homeland to try to win his hand. Leaving everything behind, she and her grandmother, the queen of Joketsuzoku, came to our village and sold food to make a living."

"She and the queen both left her kingdom for him?" She asked.

"Well she wouldn't have been the first person to leave their home and lives to be with him. The other fiancée left all she had behind and searched fro him for about ten years."

"Ten years!? How could she have managed?"

"She pretended to be a man and worked as a cook. I always somewhat felt sorry for her. She spent all those years trying to find him, only to find out that Ranma had always thought she was a boy. Apparently from what she told us her father had always wanted a son, and since his wife had died giving birth, he ended up raising her as he would have a boy."

Nabiki noticed the way the girl payed attention to her every word, as if she were delivering from the very gods. "And then there was my little sister. She can't cook, she can't fight as well as the warrior princess, she doesn't have the wealth of the noblewoman, or even the long-standing friendship of the chef. In fact the only real advantage she had was that she was Ranma's first fiancee. So he had more time to get comfortable with the idea of being married to her, even before any of the other girls had a chance to show up."

Nabiki paused for a moment. "Well maybe there were a few other things. I think living together helped them come to terms with the engagement better than if they hadn't. When your constantly together like they were, something just happens and you almost can't help but to fall in love. So that was another big advantage she had. That or Ranma really is a masochist."

"A what?" Akemi asked completely confused.

"Eh — never mind. Anyway getting back to the story. Things continued like that for almost a year, until one day our village was attacked. We were caught by surprise and only the three of us managed to survive it. . . . Daddy . . . Kasumi . . . Akane. . . ." Nabiki paused to wipe crocodile tears from her eyes. "They're all . . . " Nabiki covered her face and began sobbing.

"Mistress! I'm sorry! That must have been so difficult for you! I can't even imagine how you could have survived. To have lost your entire family in one night; you must be so strong."

Nabiki shook her head. "I only barely survived. The only reason I'm alive today is because Ranma risked himself to make sure I was safe. It's only because he tended to me day and night that I didn't die that night myself. Then when I found out what had happened to my parents, he again took care of me and comforted me."

"What happened? How did he risk his life to save you?"

Akemi's interruption caught Nabiki off guard. Looking away from the girl, Nabiki began to rack her mind for something to say. As she thought about her story and what would likely be considered romantic to the girl she was talking to, she suddenly remembered seeing a burn mark on Ranma's arm a few days past. Taking a moment to solidify her story, she said. "Our attackers set the house on fire, and my room quickly became a blazing inferno. When Ranma came to rescue me, I was huddled up in the corner of the room with a sprained ankle, completely surrounded by fire. Ranma rushed into the conflagration that was my room, calling my name. Luckily for me, he came just in the nick of time; the moment he entered a room, a large fiery beam fell from the ceiling. I called out his name in fear as I saw that it was about to fall on top of me. Knowing that there was no way I would be able to move out of the way in time, he ran toward me. Without a second thought, he blocked the beam with his left arm and scooped me up in his arms to take me to safety. If you look at his left arm just above the elbow, you'll see the scorch mark where the beam landed."

Nabiki paused for a moment, and took note of the girl to whom she was talking. Tears were running freely down the girls face. She was about to continue when a sudden movement caught her eye. Turning to see what it was, she nearly jumped out of the tub, when she saw four other servants sitting near the entryway to the bath. Seeing that all four of them were also crying, it didn't take a genius to realize that they had been listening as well. She berated herself for getting so caught up in the story that she hadn't realized four other people had joined them.

Seeing as how it was too late already, she mentally shrugged her shoulders. She turned a bit to face all five girls, and continued again. "I cried for days afterward. I hated myself for being alive when the rest of my family had died. But Ranma, who had lost many friend and family as well, refused to let me dwell on it. So he decided to leave the village, and to take me with him. He knew my spirit would eventually die there as I stayed; there were too just many memories there for both of us. Memories that would haunt us if we stayed there. So he took me as his wife, and we left."

"Since then, Every time I cry, he'd be there to hold me and cry with me. Every time I've happy, he's been there share that happiness with me as well. Whenever I'm in so much pain that I feel that it will overwhelm me, he's always there to help me thought it."

Nabiki paused a moment, noticing to her dismay there was now about ten girls in the room. Summoning more crocodile tears, she slowly began. "You asked me if it was love at first sight. No, it wasn't. But now, after everything that happened; after all that we've been through, I know that I could never have fallen in love with another man."

"Yet, my heart is conflicted! For this love, whose fruit is sweeter than the sweetest honey was watered in blood. For if it wasn't for that wretched night so long ago, I would never have had the chance to feel love like I do today. It wasn't until my world fell apart that I realized how truly desolate my life had been. So from my greatest pain came my greatest joys. The joys of life, love, and soon. . . motherhood."

Wiping a crocodile tear from eyes, Nabiki looked up from her academy-award presentation to see everyone in the room looking up at her with tears in their eyes. Akemi, the only girl in the room that wasn't cuddled up with someone else, looked at her and said. "I have never been so moved like that before. Please mistress, if it wouldn't be too much trouble for you, tell me more. Tell me more about you and your husband, and the family that you lost."

Nabiki looked at the girl's pleading eyes, which was mirrored in the eyes of all of the other girls in the room. She couldn't find it in her to refuse the poor girl. Besides it had been fun! She always knew that all the yen she had spent on buying her manga was well spent. "Ok, but only on one condition."

"Tell me and I will do all within my ability to see that it is done for you." Akemi said solemnly.

Shivering slightly, she crossed her arms over her chest and said. "Can you raise the temperature of this thing? The water is getting cold!" Four girls, the one's who had likely been there to regulate the temperature of the water, quickly stood and went to restart the fire to heat the water.

That evening, an exhausted Ranma found his way to his room. As he entered the room, he saw several lit candles which Nabiki was using to read some kind of book. "Hey Nabiki."

Nabiki looked up from her book. "Why, hello darling. How was your day today? I hope it wasn't too tiring."

Ranma winced. She was acting just like she was when they had been engaged. He knew she was doing it to tease him, but it was still very disconcerting for him. "Nah. Me and pop were mostly training all day. What about you, whatcha reading?" He said as he began getting ready sleep.

"Oh this?" She said, indicating the book. "Akemi let me borrow it for a while. It's nothing much really. It's just a book about some of the stuff the elder's seen while traveling."

"It any good?"

"I suppose. It seems more like some kinda story book. It's got a bunch of stories about monsters and demons."

Ranma raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Any interesting stories?"

"Not really. Most are just about big animals of different kinds. The only interesting story was the first one. It was about a demon and a miko who fell in love about forty-nine years ago. Or at least that's what the few people who knew about it thought. It seems this miko was the guardian of some kind of powerful jewel that the demon wanted, so he pretended to be in love with her, and waited until he was sure she had fallen in love with him to spring his attack."

"The demon asked her if he could use the power of the jewel to become a human so that they could stop hiding their relationship. The miko who was overjoyed at the idea, readily agreed. However, when she brought it to him, he attacked her. He stole the jewel from her and must have thought she was dead, because he returned to the village to attack them now that they were defenseless. The miko didn't die however, and so she used the last of her power to seal the demon forever."

"Sheesh, and this was a real story?"

"Supposedly." Nabiki said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Talk about weird. Anyway what else ya do?"

"Not much really. I had a great warm bath, followed by a lot of pampering and lounging about. After being on the road for so long, it feels so good just to relax. I especially enjoyed being able to take a warm bath, instead of swimming in freezing cold lakes.

"Well at least you got to take a warm bath, me and pops had to go to a nearby lake. Of course that's only the beginning of my great day. Pops being the idiot he is, forgets to bring a kettle. So I get the job of finding one to borrow. It took me forever to find one, but when I got back pops was no where to be found. I was about to just use it and let pops find his own kettle, when a bunch of guys from the village came along. They said that they were hunters and were trying to find a large beast that found its way into the woods. Of course it was Pops, so I had to go rescue him from the hunters."

"Then, when I got back here, the servants suddenly started looking at me all weird. I mean every time I walked into a room, they would all just shut up all and look at me funny. Wait a minute! You don't think they know. . . Do you? About my curse I mean?" He said, as his eyes grew wide in sudden fear.

"I doubt it. To the best of my knowledge, your secret is still safe."

Ranma breathed out in relief. "Can you think of why they're looking at me funny?"

Nabiki was tempted to tell him he was just being paranoid. After all they'd be gone soon and unless she told him, she knew for a fact that he would never find out. In fact, she was very sure that he would most likely prefer not to know; not to mention the awkwardness that not telling him would save him. They had agreed on being friends however, and he did have the right to know, despite how embarrassed he would feel when he did. "Well unless my guess is wrong, I would guess those looks are more curioustity and admiration than anything else."

"Huh? Why would ya think that?"

"Oh no reason at, really. I mean I did kinda mention a few small things, nothing all that big really."

Ranma suddenly became very worried. Nabiki was rambling. Never in all the time that he had known Nabiki, had he ever known her to ramble. Therefore, her rambling could only be a bad omen. "When you say 'a few small things,' what exactly do you mean?"

"Well — just stuff like your fiancees and the other girls who constantly chased after you. Of course I kept out certain things like your curse. But I did mention just a few other non-important things, like how we fell in love, our marriage, and why we're on the road traveling while I'm pregnant. Like I said, hardly anything."

"You said what!?" He asked in shock and dismay. W-w-why did you we were — were — "

"Married and in love?" Nabiki added helpfully. Ranma nodded his head. With a sigh she continued. "Well just in case you've already forgotten, I'll remind you. Thanks to that dumb panda, not only are we married, but I'm also pregnant with Ranma jr. Remember?"

"Still why ya have to even talk about it in the first place?" Ranma stammered.

"Well Akemi was keeping me company while I was taking a bath, and she started asking me a lot of questions. It was either answer her or be cold to her. You were the one that said I should be friendlier. All I was doing was taking your advice."

Ranma sighed. "Well what exactly did you say?" Nabiki sighed and told him the revised version of their life in Nerima that she had told Akemi, ending with their marriage. "And they actually believed a crazy story like that?"

"First off, I only meant to tell one person, but they somehow just kept multiplying. Besides, why wouldn't they believe it? It is true you know. Well ... It's almost all true. It's just been embellished a bit. Think about it. Shampoo is Cologne's successor, so that would make her an amazon princesses, and the Kuno's are technically a noble family. Anyway, with my charisma and my vast supply of manga romance plots to draw upon, I could have convinced them we were really aliens form planet Jusenkyou on a mission to baptize them all in the spring of drowned duckbill platypus."

Ranma burst out laughing at the idea of finally having a way to not only make him forget about the 'pigtailed girl,' as well as making him shut up. He quickly made a mental note to pick up some spring water from Jusenkyou before going back to their own time. "Now that is funny. Ok, well I guess it's no big deal then. At least you didn't say any other stuff."

Nabiki winced. "Well... That's not exactly everything I said. I did happen to mention just a wee bit more." She said sounding very embarrassed.

Ranma looked at her in wide eyed fear. The fear only magnified, when he noted the blush that was starting to decorate Nabiki's face. No, fear was far too small of a word to describe the emotions coursing though Ranma. Anything that could make Nabiki blush like that was certainly something to fear. In fact, if a lion had suddenly come into the room and sat on his lap, he probably wouldn't have even blinked. "W-wh-what d-d-do you m-mean t-that wasn't everything?" He asked; his voice reflecting his currently emotion.

Preparing herself for what she was about to talk about, Nabiki took a deep breath and began. "Well you see, at first she started by asking simple questions like describing what everyone back home was like. Unfortunately, she started asking other questions, and seeing as how I was on a roll, I didn't even really think about what it was I was saying until later."

Her reluctant tone did nothing to help soothe his nerves. "Like what kinda questions?" The further spreading of the blush when he asked her, nearly drove him into hysterics.

Nabiki gulped and said. "Oh just stuff like what our first time was like."

Ranma looked at her blankly, his fears temporarily placed on hold. "Huh? First time? First time what?"

Nabiki just couldn't believe it. She wanted nothing better than to just disappear. She cursed herself for taking Ranma's advice and opening up like she did. "IT! You know 'doing IT!' What do men and women do when they're married?"

She looked at Ranma in dismay, when the blank look never left his face. She shut her eyes and clenched her hands tightly in anger and frustration. There was NO way that SHE was going to have to be the one to explain the birds and the bees to RANMA of all people. She decided to make one last attempt before trying to teach Ranma biology. "Ok Ranma, this may be stupid question, but do you know how babies are made?"

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Of course I do Nabiki! I ain't that stupid or nothin. It's when. . . ." Ranma when pale. He tried to speak, but for some reason neither his lungs nor his vocal chords remembered how to work correctly. So his mouth would open and close as if he were speaking, but no sounds came out.

In what Ranma could only describe as a once-in-a-lifetime event, Nabiki earnestly apologized to him. "I am so sorry Ranma. I wasn't even thinking about it. I was having so much fun coming up with answers to the questions I was being asked, that I just got carried away. Believe me, I didn't mean for any of it to get as carried away as it did. And before you ask, no. I will not go into details about what I said. However, I will say this, any man those women marry will have some pretty high expectations to overcome."

Ranma shook his head. "Why do these things always happen to me? What did I ever do to deserve this? You know what, just skip it. I am too tired for this! Let's just forget this whole thing ever happened! But, you gotta promise me one thing. Don't do something like this again. Ok?"

"Believe me, I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life. Trust me when I say, I have no intentions of ever doing anything like that again. Ever! In fact, let's just blow out the candles and goto sleep. I want to enjoy this nice comfortable bed, before Genma decides that its time to try and run away from this town. So come on help me blow out the lights."

They stood and began blowing out the candles. As Nabiki faced the final candle, she asked. "Ranma?"

"Ya Nabiki?" He said, turning to look at her back.

"Are we still friends?" She asked neutrally.

Ranma smiled at her, despite the fact that he knew she couldn't see it. "Of course we're still friends."

"Thanks." She said, before blowing out the final candle.

"That's what friends are for right? Besides you know me. I'm always saying stupid stuff I shouldn't and getting people mad at me. So fair is fair right?"

"I'm actually pretty impressed with you so far. You've pretty much managed to keep your foot out of your mouth, this entire trip."

"Why gee, thanks a lot Nabiki! That makes me feel so much better" Ranma said sarcastically.

"You're very welcome Ranma. Anyway good night." Nabiki answered back, ignoring the sarcasm.

"Ya good night." He responded.

The two rolled over and attempted to sleep, but after a few minutes Nabiki spoke up. "Ranma?"

"Ya?"

"I gotta business deal for you."

"What?"

"A business deal. You know when people agree to help each other to make a lot of money."

Ranma's internal danger sense was ringing overtime. Past experience had taught him, deals made with Nabiki always found a way to turn around and bite him in the butt. With some difficulty Ranma ignored his danger sense, after all that was before they had become friends. He hoped now that they were friends, things would change. So he took a deep breath and said. "So what's your idea?"

"Well — I was thinking. When we get back, we have got to try and get that story of yours published. It would be a hit. I'm sure we can easily get it turned into a book or a manga, and if it's really popular we might even be able to get it turned into a movie! Heck we could make two different series. One for your life in Nerima, and another for our misadventures here in the past! We could easily make Millions!"

Ranma laughed. "I swear some things about you never change."

"Come on, tell me you don't think we could make millions? It's a sure hit. Do you know how much I make everyday at school selling news about you? If I can make as I do at school from the few students that go there, just imagine if we market it out to all of japan and later the world!"

"I don't know Nabiki." Ranma said hesitantly.

"Just think about it ok? We can talk about it later, when i got all the details worked out. That's all I'm asking you, just think about it."

"Ok, I guess. I'll think about it."

"Good! Oh and Ranma, just one more thing."

"Hm?" He said feeling very tired."

"Nothing really, I just wanted to say, goodnight dear."

Ranma groaned. "Just got sleep Nabiki."

"Yes, dear. I'm sorry to keep you up dear." She said teasingly, eliciting yet another groan from her supposed husband.

Ranma wisely stayed quite though. Instead he turned over and closed his eyes. Not much longer after that, both of them had fallen blissfully asleep. It was only then, after both began a rhythmic chorus of snoring, that the person hiding behind the door snuck away.


End file.
